Wired's GameLife sums it up perfectly:

It’s all part of this generation’s big message: In the online age, you only have your games at the whim of the gamemaker.

Electronic Arts is wielding its online multiplayer hatchet again, this time with plans to discontinue the Internet aspect of more of its titles.  This is in addition to the two dozen EA Sports games scheduled for virtual demolition.  Effective March 16 you can say goodbye to Def Jam: Icon (Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360), The Godfather (PS3 and X360), Lord of the Rings: Conquest (PC, PS3, and X360), Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (PC), Need for Speed: Carbon (PlayStation Portable), Need For Speed: ProStreet (PSP) and The Simpsons (PS3 and X360).  Then come April 15 on Xbox Classic Doomsday we bid farewell to Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (Xbox), Burnout 3: Takedown (Xbox and PS2), and Madden NFL 09 (Xbox) as well as the Asian version of Army of Two (PS3).

The last time the Kombo Breaker team and I kicked around potential podcast topics, I suggested discussing the recent trend of companies like EA and Microsoft planning to disconnect their older titles from the various multiplayer networks, but the consensus was that it wasn't worth debating since the games slated for digital death aren't all that popular.  I say that you only do not care about this sort of thing until a game you still enjoy is the one about to be put down.  Picture me pointing at you in an ominous manner as I warn: it'll happen to you!

What do you think the over/under is on the end of online feature support for Dante's Inferno at this rate?  I'm guessing the second half of 2012.